Isn’t it strange how when you get older, you really do start reflecting on the things that you experienced when you were younger, and how the world has changed, sometimes, but not always for the better.
I’ve always known I wanted to write, and I cut my writing teeth at the age of 18 working as a Cub Reporter for what was then called the Walthamstow Guardian. Just before I left high school I had confessed to my head teacher at school that I wanted to be a journalist, to which the response was (and I promise you this is true!) “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re a girl…girls become secretaries until they get married!’ As you can imagine, the seeds of my own feminism were planted at that moment, and flourished when I left school and subsequently became a junior reporter at the local paper. A couple of years later I went to Canada, and contacted the daily paper in Vancouver for a job, to be told “If you were a man we would hire you tomorrow, but unfortunately…..” So I went to work in a bank instead until I left Vancouver and traveled down to Mexico…and the rest, as they say, is history.
It would be easy to think that everything is completely different now. Certainly I can’t imagine a teacher admonishing a young girl in high school now for wanting to be a journalist, and getting away with it. But scratch beneath the surface of today’s more enlightened attitude to women and writing, and you soon begin to realize there’s still a lot to be done. And I guess that’s why Loose Muse is important…so it can give all of you women who write another platform for sharing and expression. La lucha continua!!
The next event is on April 11th and will feature Miriam Halahmy, a sensational novelist, whose brilliant book for young teens ‘Hidden’ tells the story of two teenagers on Hayling Island who save a drowning immigrant. I read it, and it made me cry! Also, we have the exceptional poet Charlotte Ansell, joining us from her barge in Sheffield. She a poet whose work I have always loved, and once you’ve heard her I’m certain you’ll agree. A truly brilliant night, so make sure you come and join us.
And do log on to the Loose Muse website – http://www.loose-muse.com – to see what marvelous new piece has been chosen to grace our website pages this month. Tell us what you like, and what you’d like to see, and send me a poem or short story to go on the website too…that’s what it’s there for.
Come share the passion, share the joy,
Agnes Meadows
Loose Muse 
I remember similar conversations at school Agnes – I wanted to join the army! I was told the only viable way was to become a nurse…